Merkle-2018年第二季度网络营销报告-2018.7-30页-1mb

Digital Marketing Report Summary

Core Content Overview

This report provides a detailed analysis of paid and organic search advertising trends, along with social media and display ad performance across major platforms in Q2 2018. It highlights changes in ad spend, click growth, cost per click (CPC), and revenue per click (RPC) for various ad formats and platforms, with a focus on Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Amazon.

Main Points and Key Insights

Paid Search

• Google Paid Search Growth: Google search ad spending grew 18% Y/Y in Q2 2018, marking a third consecutive quarter of deceleration. Clicks increased by 7%, but CPCs rose by 10%, leading to a widening cost gap.

  • Phone Spending: Grew 37% Y/Y, outpacing desktop growth (12%).
  • Google Shopping Ads: Spent 31% Y/Y, growing over five times faster than text ads (6%).
    • Accounted for 59% of all Google search ad clicks, with 82% of non-brand clicks.
    • Mobile Shopping ads saw the biggest RPC increase in Q2, rising over 20%.
  • Brand Keywords: CPCs increased 30% Y/Y, while clicks only rose 3%.
  • Audience Targeting: Used for 37% of Google search ad clicks, up from 21% a year earlier.
  • Google Maps Clicks: Accounted for 5% of phone text ad clicks, up from Q1.
  • Search Partners: Click share dropped 16% Y/Y, to under 5% in Q2, while Google.com clicks grew 7%.

• Bing and Yahoo Paid Search:

  • Search ad spending growth slowed to 11% Y/Y, down from 30% in Q1.
  • CPCs declined by 10% in Q2, compared to 17% in Q1.
  • Bing Product Ads: Click growth accelerated to 110% Y/Y, but spend growth slowed to 40%.
  • Phone Click Share: Bing Ads generated 25% of paid search clicks from phones in Q2, up from 10% a year earlier.
  • Desktop vs. Mobile CPCs: Google's CPC gap between desktop and phone narrowed, while Bing's phone CPCs dropped significantly, keeping the overall gap flat.

Organic Search & Social Media

• Organic Search Visits:

  • Total site visits from organic search grew 2% Y/Y in Q2, with phone visits up 11%.
  • Desktop visits declined 5%, but improved from recent averages.
  • Mobile organic search share reached 55%, a new all-time high, up from 42% a year earlier.
  • Google Organic Search Share: Reached 96% of mobile site visits, up from 94% in Q2 2017.
  • Yahoo Organic Search Share dropped to 3% in Q2, down from 4% in Q2 2017.

• Social Media:

  • Social media accounted for 3.7% of all site visits in Q2, up from 2.9% a year earlier.
  • Mobile social media share: Reached 4.6%, contributing over 77% of total social media traffic.
  • Facebook: Still the largest social media driver, but its ad spend growth slowed to 40% from 177% for Instagram.
  • YouTube: Ad spend grew 189% Y/Y, with strong RPC growth across devices.
  • Instagram: Ad spend grew 177% Y/Y, with impressions tripling, outpacing Facebook's 40% growth.

Amazon Ads

• Amazon Sponsored Products: Spent 165% Y/Y, while Headline Search Ads grew 162%.
  • Accounted for 88% of Amazon search ad spend in Q2.
  • Generated the highest sales per click among Amazon's search formats.
  • Local Inventory Ads (LIAs): Contributed 16% of Google Shopping phone clicks, up from 9% a year earlier.
  • Showcase Shopping Ads: Increased their mobile share significantly, from 1.6% in Q4 2017 to 4.4% in Q2 2018.

Comparison Shopping Engines (CSEs)

• CSE Performance: Struggled with mobile traffic, as 89% of clicks came from desktop in Q2.
  • Advertisers saw 23% Y/Y sales declines, likely due to increased competition from Google Shopping.
  • Some brands have abandoned CSEs, leading to mixed results for those still active.

Industry Trends

• Most Industries: Saw single-digit click growth for Google search ads, with health and pharma, retail and consumer goods, and financial services experiencing the highest CPC growth.
• Travel and Insurance: Showed the smallest gap between phone and spend share, with phones accounting for 41–44% of spend and 44–50% of clicks.
• Retailers: Benefited most from Google Shopping, which accounted for 59% of all Google search ad clicks in Q2, up from 53% in Q2 2017.
• B2B Search: Still underperforming on mobile, with only 27% of clicks from phones and tablets.

Summary of Key Growth Drivers

• Google Shopping Ads continue to be a key growth engine, outperforming text ads significantly.
• Mobile is becoming a dominant platform, with phone and tablet clicks accounting for 60% of all search ad clicks and 64% of Google clicks.
• Audience targeting has become a major factor in Google search ad performance, increasing from 21% to 37% of clicks.
• Facebook and Instagram remain the top social platforms, with Instagram leading in ad spend growth.
• Amazon has a strong presence in Google Shopping auctions, particularly in home goods, furniture, and office supplies.

Methodology and Partners

• Merkle provides the data and analysis, focusing on paid search, organic search, and social media performance.
• Google dominates the organic search market, especially on mobile, with 96% of mobile organic search visits.
• Bing and Yahoo are seeing declining relevance, with organic search visits down 12% in Q2 and search partner share falling to under 5%.

Conclusion

The report underscores a shift in advertising focus toward mobile and social platforms, with Google Shopping Ads and Instagram leading in growth. While Google remains the dominant player, Bing and Yahoo are facing challenges in maintaining their market share. Audience targeting and mobile optimization are critical for improving ROI and adapting to changing consumer behavior.